


SHEPARD'S MIXTAPE

by rock_lee



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Romance, Slow Build, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-07 16:45:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5463761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rock_lee/pseuds/rock_lee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard loves music from the 80's. Garrus finds that a lot of her old human music really hits home. </p>
<p>| shakarian / me2 - me3 / NOT A SONG FIC |</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. TRACK 1

**Author's Note:**

> look me in the eyes and tell me that 80’s love songs don’t sum up shep and garrus perfectly. tell me. tell me so i may escape shakarian hell…….  
> anyway, i hope you enjoy this! it’s based off of, well, a bunch of love songs from the 80’s. this isn't a song fic! it's just the titles of songs that i found perfect for the situation!

TRACK 1

▶ I JUST DIED IN YOUR ARMS TONIGHT - CUTTING CREW

It had to be a dream. There is no way that Shepard was alive. There was no logical solution to the flaming redheaded human that was charging across the bridge. Hell, maybe this just another hallucination. He has a lot of those since he began taking stims religiously. Besides, why would she come for him? He had left her and she had died. He had told her he would always have her six and he didn’t uphold that promise. He let her die.

Oh well. Maybe it was the Spirit of death coming to take him. It’s about time. He was the last one alive… It was his turn. Archangel was once again alone. He would embrace death.

(He did embrace death. Hell, he had begged for it at first, knowing that maybe he would see Shepard on the other side. That’s the reason he ended up on Omega in the first place.)

He loaded a concussive round and shot at the Spirit. It needed to hurry up. If he was to die tonight, it was better at the hands of this Shepard look alike. He deserved it. He cocked his head when the bullet actually hit. Shepard - no, the Spirit - jerked back and he saw those green eyes that haunted him glare at him through the scope.

If it was a Spirit, how did his bullet hit it? What if it really was… No, he isn’t allowed to hope like that. Shepard is dead. She isn’t coming back.

It took a while, but soon the door behind him slid open. Ah, here it is. Death.

“Archangel?”

_Shepard_. That was her voice. The voice that he would hear in his sleep, the voice that accused him of letting her die. He tried not to shake, but the stims he was on made sure his fingers shook when he held up a hand. Just one more moment. He didn’t want to face the wrath of the Spirit yet. A head popped into his scope and he watched as it exploded with a simple tug of his trigger. Satisfaction spread through him. Taking out the bastards that killed his squad filled him with some sort of sick happiness. Too bad he wouldn’t be able to take care of Sidonis after this.

He stood and turned, ignoring how the empty stims crunched under his boot. He sure wouldn’t miss those. He had become addicted to them over the past two years. Anything to keep him awake and the nightmares away. Avoiding the Spirit’s all too familiar face, he rested his aching body against some crates and removed his helmet. He watched as the shock spread over the Spirit’s face. Huh.

“Shepard.” Oh, he hadn’t spoken that name in years. “I thought you were dead.”

 

* * *

 

It occurred to him nearly immediately that this was no Spirit. This was Shepard. His Shepard. She fought like the woman he remembered and she had been so happy to see him. No Spirit of Death would greet him like that.

It also occurred to him that she was risking her life again. No, he wouldn’t let her die again because he couldn’t watch her back. He fought harder besides the ache in his bones and the fog in his head. He refused to imagine living through another hell without Shepard.

Oh, how he was a fool. It had been easy to take out Jaroth and Garm. Child’s play with Shepard by his side. He hadn’t anticipated the gunship coming back.

He heard her yell for him the moment the roar of the rocket met his face. This was the punishment he deserved for letting her die. For letting his squad be slaughtered. She had come back and in return, he must go.

Gunfire filled the air and he blinked in and out of consciousness. How cruel the universe is. It gives and takes as it pleases.

“Garrus! You need to stay with me!” Her hands were on him. He wanted to apologize, he needed to make sure she at least got out of here alive. His fingers numbly grasped his rifle. He must protect her from Death.

“He’s not going to make it Commander.” It was the other human that came with his Shepard. He wanted to laugh. Of course not. He deserved this.

**  
** The fingers that held his arm squeezed and shook in anger. “Shut up!” Oh Shepard… “He’s going to make it. He has to.” He felt her lean over him and her head was level with him. Behind that curtain of red, he saw it. The fierce face and green eyes. The sparkle of fear and pain in them. “I need him.” His eyes closed and the last thing he heard her sob his name.


	2. TRACK 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY, AN UPDATE!   
> sorry for the wait!   
> (also, if you're following my story RELAY 314, an update might be up tomorrow!)   
> hope you enjoy!

_ TRACK 2 _

_ ▶  _ _ NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP - RICK ASTLEY _

 

It was Garrus who noticed. Shepard - she really was Shepard, not some clone or AI - wasn't being her usual self. It was understandable. Coming back from the peace of death to only be thrown into a whirlpool of a myth come to start a war… it couldn't be easy. Even if she wasn’t acting like herself, it was her. The way she cocked her gun, the way her eyes would linger just so slightly on his mandibles when he talked or how she always always aimed a little to the right before pulling back left - those were just some of Shepard’s little quirks. 

 

He didn’t hesitate to go after her after Horizon for that exact reason. She was falling apart at the seams and he had always had her six, so why stop now? His best friend needed him more than ever. He had been so busy after she found him with his own problems that he ignored hers. _ I need him. _ The words she had said in that dingy apartment on Omega still bounced in his head. She trusted him that much and here he was, waiting until she was to her breaking point to comfort her. Some friend he was.  He wasn’t much better than Alenko right now.

 

Her cabin door was locked when he got off the elevator. Surely she wouldn’t mind him crashing in for a little talk. She needed someone. He began hacking her door and nearly jumped out of his plates when EDI’s voice echoed over him. “Commander Shepard asks that you please do not enter. Hacking is also frowned against.” 

 

He ignored her and worked just a bit faster. “Gunnery Chief Vakarian, I recommend you stop attempting to-” The door slid open before EDI could finish and he was now hunched over in an awkward hacking position, Jane Shepard standing before him with slack arms. 

 

“Garrus.”

 

“Shep.” 

 

Garrus straightened his back and they stared at each other for what felt like infinity. Her weird fringe - hair, it was called - was wet and stuck together in little clumpy strands. He watched a bead of water drip off the ends and disappear against the soft fabric of her hoodie. Her eyes were too dark for the bright green irises. She looked exhausted beyond belief. He was caught completely off guard by the desire to brush her wet and clumpy hair from her cheeks. “Talk to me,” he softly started. Her brows furrowed ever so slightly, her lips pulling down barely a millimeter. Since when did he know how to read her alien expressions so well? “I was there. I know that he hurt you.”

 

“Garrus… I don’t know what to say.” He tilted his head, watching as she bit her lip and looked away. “He was so happy to see me… then… I just don’t understand how he could turn his back on me so quickly.” She stepped back and he moved closer until the door shut behind them. Her cabin was dead quiet besides the bubbling of the fish tank and the small chatter of the space hamster. He gently touched her arm, urging her to continue. She shook her head. “I never felt so alone.”

 

He rumbled lowly in his chest, his subharmonics speaking words he denied to himself. “You’re not. I was there. I will always have your six Jane.” 

 

He counted to forty when her arms encased his waist. It made him jump a little (did she not know what the waist means to a turian?) before very gently returning it. His talons were awkwardly placed on her shoulder blades and enjoying the slight warm radiating from her cool skin. “I can’t do this without you Garrus.”

 

He purred and held her closer, slipping his hands a tad bit lower and resting his chin on her wet head. “Of course you could-”

 

“No. I mean it. I can’t.”

  
He didn’t say anything when he felt her tears soak his civvies. If she needed him, he would always be there, in arms or companionship. He would never give up on her. 


End file.
